Canine behaviourist-help!

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 21:58:33 GMT

Mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant? In dogs 1mg/kg/day. It's an antidepressant too, might cheer the miserable critter up?

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Catherine Hemingway — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:15:18 GMT

Thanks for all the suggestions. In reply to some of the posts (sorry if i forget anything)

1-he goes hypo if he doesn't eat in the morning and the owners give him his normal dose so they generally resort to a half dose in the mornings.

2-we can't perform a BG curve (we could initially but not now). Long history to this dog, he had steroid responsive meningitis after being castrated and then subsequently became diabetic. Due to many stays in the hospital, both with us and a referral practice he now quite understandably hates the vets. We can't even approach him in the car park without him trying to attack us so a curve isn't an option and the owners aren't willing to try at home.

3-He also appears to be very sensitive to changes in insulin dose, currently on 9units twice daily (think he's about 17kg ish), 8unit was too little and went ketotic and 9.5units twice daily leads to hypo episodes.

4-We tried once daily caninsulin and PZI in the begining and neither lasted long enough and was still very PU/PD etc

5-unfortunately this problem has been ongoing for a while and his owners have offered him everything and anything to try to tempt him to eat so we are aiming to break quite a habit! He won't even eat treats as a reward for training in the morning now.

6-I will suggest cutting his evening meal in half as don't think that is something we have tried and see how we get on.

I'll keep you posted! If anyone does know of a good behaviourist would still be helpful for any future cases though

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Michael Woodhouse — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:42:50 GMT

Offer cat food for breakfast. Dogs will eat it over all other dog food. Start off with neat catfood and then mix in to his normal dog food, gradually reducing the cat food component, until there is none there.

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Robert FalconerTaylor — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 07:06:48 GMT

Stephen is right, this is not a behaviour problem and I have used his strategy successfully in diabetic dogs before. Two things to bear in mind:

1. chopping and changing what the dog is fed (the owner will be tempted) can reinforce the behaviour

2. the owner 'doing everything he/she can' to encourage the dog to eat will reinforce the behaviour!

One thing I would encourage the owner to do is to engage in the dog in areas other than food - grooming, play - try to motivate the dog - this way it may be possible then to use part of the diet at meal times as reward to get the process going. Obviously with some dogs (small breeds that have never had to do anything for themselves!!) this might be problematic, but worth a try anyway!

Good luck...

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:07:27 GMT

This isn't a behavioural problem, it is a matter of routine.

Reduce the insulin by half for a few days, feed half the usual evening meal an offer breakfast - ie the other half of the usual dietary intake.

Within a few days the dog will be eating at least something in the morning. Just have to be hard hearted at first. But I do sympathise - my own dog won't eat breakfast - except some of mine - and i appreciate if she was a diabetic I'd have a problem!

Do what I say, not what I do....!

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Jillian Hall — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:28:59 GMT

I'd focus on a consistent daily routine, whatever that may be.

What does his blood glucose curve look like on the days where he hasn't eaten? If the BG is consistently high could he not have an appropriate dose of insulin anyway? If it's low then he doesn't really need the insulin.

I wouldn't be happy with owners chopping/changing the dose on days that he does or doesn't eat, but if the dog really does not want a morning meal the so be it. Yes there will be bigger fluctuations in blood glucose than if he had a textbook daily routine, but the most important thing should be the consistency. It's likely that he could still be clinically stable on once daily feeding as long as each days routine was the same and that the dose of insulin was appropriate for his blood glucose.

Re: Canine behaviourist-help!

Mark Hedberg — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:11:30 GMT

Smaller evening meal, maybe? Earlier dinner? (No, I'm not a behaviorist, sorry!)